Who Can You Trust?
by WishUponAStar22
Summary: 15-year-old Emily Sheppard thought it was going to be a good day, she did great on a test and was going to go home to her dad. But that all changed when she became the new number on John and Finch's list. This story's set somewhere in the second season. Rated T for violence and mild language. I hope you all like reading this!


**A/N: Hello there! I just got a little obsessed with Person of Interest and I watched the second season on DVD in like a week. So I thought, why not make a fanfic? So this is what I got. I hope you all like it!**

**I gotta give props to JunoMai223 who is my best friend, but she also found a way to correct my bad writing. Technically I could call her my beta reader but she's never seen an episode of Person of Interest, sadly. But other than that, she's amazingly awesome.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not getting any money for this. I wish I owned Person of Interest.**

Chapter One: A New Number

You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a machine, that spies on you every hour of everyday. I designed the machine to detect acts if terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people. The government considers these people irrelevant. We don't. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us. But, victim or perpetrator, if your number's up, we'll find you.

Emily Sheppard walked out of school feeling great, she had just aced the math test they had today and couldn't wait to tell her dad, who always took her out for dinner whenever she got an A on a test.

Emily briefly thought about hailing a cab to get home but quickly dismissed the notion, since she had no money. Besides, It was a beautiful day and she didn't live that far away. She didn't realize how big a mistake that was until later.

She walked for a couple of blocks before she noticed that she was being followed. The four men stayed at least a couple hundred feet away from her but they were always there when she turned around. They all looked the same, well-muscled thugs dressed in jeans and black leather jackets, and they all emanated an aura of hate and greed, and as soon as Emily laid eyes on them she knew they were going to harm her in some way.

When they started taking pictures of her with their phones, that's when she decided to run. They would catch up, of course, but they were so far behind her that she knew it would take a while. Unexpectedly she turned left and ran down an alleyway, then hid behind all the old boxes piled up there, right before the four men came barreling down the alley too.

She figured these men weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer when they continued running down the alley and didn't even bother to check and see if she'd hidden. Oh well, their stupidity was her gain.

After they were gone, Emily pulled out her cell phone to call her dad or the cops or anyone, really. Though when she flipped it open the screen went black. "Go figure," she muttered, while putting her dead phone back in her backpack.

She walked for another ten minutes, wondering whether or not she should tell her dad about this. That's when she saw two men in black jackets following her again. How'd they find her? _Well_, she thought absently, _at least it's only two of them now, the other two must have gotten lost or something._ She turned the corner onto fifth avenue, a place she knew would be a busy street, and for the first time was happy to see a swarming crowd. She dived into the mass of people, thankful that she was short and therefore harder to spot in a crowd.

The two large men in black jackets stopped once they turned the corner, the girl they'd been tailing just disappeared. They stood with their arms crossed, searching the crowd for any sign of the kid they needed to find.

Emily breathed a sign of relief when she saw the men stop, maybe she could lose them for good this time. But she stopped dead when she saw the other two men, the ones she thought she'd lost before, were standing farther down the street, towards the end of the mass of people, searching the crowd as well.

She didn't stop for long, knowing that they'd see her if she did. She continued on walking but changed directions when she got too close to beefy men in black coats. Then she was walking towards the other two and did the same thing when she got too close to them. And so it began, she kept walking back and forth, praying that the men wouldn't see her and soon give up in finding her.

Of course she knew that wouldn't happen

* * *

"We've got a new number, Mr. Reese."

John winced as he suddenly heard Finch's voice in his ear. He'd forgotten to take the ear piece out when he'd left the library . . . again.

"How convenient, right after I left the office," he said in his perpetually menacing voice, and started to head back to the library.

"Actually, Mr. Reese, she's just across the street from your location."

Immediately John changed directions and headed across the street. "She?" He asked, wanting to know who he's after.

"Yes, a teenage girl named Emily Sheppard," Finch said as he limped to tape the girl's picture to the dirty, cracked, clear plastic board. Then he went back to his keyboard to see what else he could find out about Miss Sheppard. "It appears that she lives alone with her father, her mother died when Emily was only a year old."

John said nothing, he was almost across the street listening to all information Finch had. By now the billionaire had hacked into the practically defenseless school records. He scanned through everything they had on Emily Sheppard. "She's very bright, her teachers love her and she has all A's, well except for chemistry in which she has a B minus."

"Smart kid," John said as he reached the busy side of the street, which he had tried to avoid earlier.

"Indeed," Finch agreed, "I'm sending a picture to your phone now."

John took out his phone to see what their new number looked like. She had jet black hair in a short no nonsense hair cut, a round face, and bright blue eyes.

Once he knew what she looked like John waded into the crowd looking for any sign of her or the danger that was heading her way.

* * *

Emily was starting to get frantic. It had been twenty minutes since she started moving back and forth, although it felt more like hours, and she was sure that no matter how stupid these goons were, eventually they would see her.

She momentarily thought about telling someone she was in trouble but decided it was a bad idea. These guys didn't seem the kind to stop what they were doing because the police were coming. Plus, she figured that they would probably hurt or kill someone who tried to help her and there was no way that was going to happen, not if she had a say in things.

She had just turned again to head towards the two thugs she thought she lost, keeping her head down so they couldn't see her face, when all of a sudden someone's arm fell across her shoulder. She nearly jumped five feet in the air, had they finally spotted her?

"Don't worry," said a deep whispering voice that belong to the owner of the arm, "I'm here to help."

Emily looked up at the tall man, he was wearing a nice suit with no tie and a wrinkled shirt. He didn't look like the other men who'd been following her, his clothes were different and he was a lot taller, but she could tell that she was just as dangerous, if not more.

She wasn't sure if she could trust him, he could just be working for the men in the black jackets, or worse, they could be working for him. Then she took another look at her situation and figured that it couldn't get a whole lot worse than this. The man in the suit might just be her best shot.

"Take off your jacket, and let's see if we can't make it past these guys without them noticing," the man said.

She obeyed, hoping that just maybe the change in wardrobe would be enough to fool the goons.

Unfortunately, the man in the suit didn't seem to be much of a help. He was tall enough to stand above the crowd and he became more of a beacon to her rather than camouflage.

The men in jackets started coming towards them from both sides, John turned to face the closer ones, knowing that he had to turn his back on the other two.

Emily, not quite sure what to do, turned to face the thugs that the man in the suit couldn't immediately deal with.

"Can you fight?" John asked upon realizing that he'd have to deal with these guys two at a time.

Emily thought about it for a second, she knew she wasn't big or strong enough to do any real damage to these hulking brutes, but still . . . "I can try," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"That'll have to do."

They came towards her fast, she put her fists up awkwardly. One of them didn't even come near her, he just walked past, figuring his partner could take care of the seemingly defenseless girl.

Emily, ready for the first punch, blocked it with her arm, and instantly regretted it. She guessed she didn't do it right or something because now her whole arm throbbed with pain. He threw another right hook at her, she quickly stopped it, while wishing that her arm was numb.

Unfortunately, after his first punch he threw another one, faster than she could react, and it landed in the middle of her torso.

She doubled over in pain with a small cry, and the brute thought he had finally gotten his prey. What he didn't count on was Emily's foot swinging in between his legs.

Letting out a whimper, he fell to his knees, holding his crotch with both hands.

_Now he's just the right size,_ Emily thought, straightening up as the sudden pain from the blow to the diaphragm dissipated thanks to the adrenaline running through her veins. "I've wanted to do this since you and your buddies started stalking me," she told the thug, as she pulled her arm back as far as she could and then slammed her fist hard into his jaw. He fell, completely unconscious.

Emily basked in her success for a moment, she never thought she'd be able to get enough power behind a punch to knock someone out, it was a surprising and scary revelation.

But her moment of triumph was cut short when one of the other guys grabbed her from behind and started dragging her away.

* * *

_These jokers are tougher than they look_, John thought as he kneed one of the guys in the stomach and, while he was distracted by the pain, punched his lights out. This time he finally stayed down.

Then John turned to the other guy who, up to this point, was nursing a broken jaw, but was now ready to rejoin the fight. Quickly, John dislocated the thug's shoulder and threw him through the window of a nearby coffee shop. The guy didn't move after that.

Ready for the next fight John spun around, expecting the next leather-clad stalker to be right behind him. Instead, he found an empty side walk (since no one in New York could be bothered with a street brawl) with one of the bums lying unconscious in the middle of it.

He looked around for the last guy but couldn't see him. That's when he heard Emily's voice. "Let go of me, you miserable piece of crap!" She hissed at the man.

John had to admit, this girl had guts. He advanced on them, and while he did the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at John. His mistake: he waited to do that until John was too close. In less than a second John had his hand on the gun, twisted it out out of the brute's hand and had it pointed it at the man's head.

"Let go of the girl or you're gonna be in serious trouble."

The kidnapper hesitated.

"Do you really have to think about it?" John asked, pressing the gun against the man's head.

The guy immediately let Emily go. She quickly moved away from him to stand behind the man in the suit.

John shot the thug in the knee, instead of the head, successfully incapacitating the guy. Then he grabbed Emily by the arm and started to walk the other way. He knew someone was bound to have called the police, so they really needed to get out of there fast.

"Where are you taking me?" Emily asked, almost running to keep up with the man in the suit.

"Somewhere safe."

**A/N: So how'd I do? I love getting feedback so please review. And most chapters won't be this long, this was just to get the ball rolling.**

**Oh, and . . . THE NEW SEASON STARTS TOMORROW! I can't wait!**


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